Behind a dominating effort on both sides of the ball, the Youngstown State football team defeated Duquesne 40-7 in the first round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs at Stambaugh Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Penguins advance to play No. 8 Villanova next Saturday at Villanova Stadium in the Second Round of the FCS Playoffs. Kickoff is set for noon.

This playoff win marks the 17th straight postseason victory by the Penguins at the Ice Castle. Youngstown State now owns a 29-8 all-time playoff record.

YSU improves its overall season record to 8-4 while the Dukes conclude their season with a 7-5 record.

Senior quarterback Mitch Davidson passed for the most yards in a game in YSU's long history of playoff appearances with 316 yards. The native of Salem, Ohio, finished the game 18-for-27 and delivered two touchdown passes. Additionally, Davidson set a single-season passing record, recording 2,801 on the year so far with at least one game remaining.

Senior wide receiver Bryce Oliver also set a school record for career touchdown receptions with 26. He recorded 181 yards on eight receptions to go along with the record-breaking touchdown.  Davidson and Oliver connected for five 20-plus yard receptions against the Dukes including two over 40 yards.

Senior running back Tyshon King led the Penguins on the ground with 101 rushing yards while Dra Rushton recorded 77 and a touchdown.

The Penguins held the Dukes to just one score on the day, while YSU found the endzone four times and delivered four successful field goal attempts.

Redshirt freshman placekicker Andrew Lastovka's four field goals tied the YSU playoff record for successful field goals in a game. In the final quarter, Lastovka kicked a 50-yard field goal through the uprights, which was a career-high for the placekicker and the second-longest in YSU's playoff history.

Duquesne quarterback Darius Perrantes passed for 33 yards while quarterback Matt Robinson passed for 41. Taj Butts led the Dukes both in receiving and rushing yards with 41 and 44, respectively.

The Penguins scored their first of three first-half touchdowns early in the game at the 12:28 mark of the first quarter. Oliver caught a 45-yard Davidson bomb in double coverage to set up the Penguins at the Duquesne nine-yard line. Davidson connected with C.J. Charleston for the score on the following play to give YSU an early 7-0 lead.

The Penguins' following drive was highlighted by another long pass play by Davidson. The senior quarterback connected with Joey Farthing for 31 yards on the drive that culminated with a Lastovka field foal to give the Penguins a 10-0 lead at the 5:34 mark of the opening quarter.

The Dukes found the endzone for their lone score of the game when Edward Robinson ran the ball in for a 24-yard rushing touchdown to make the score 10-7 with 1:06 left in the opening quarter. From that point forward, it was all Penguins.

At the 9:05 mark of the second quarter, Rushton capped a 13-play, 78-yard drive by the Penguins with a two-yard touchdown rush to increase the Penguins lead to 17-7. The Penguins entered halftime with a 24-7 lead over the Dukes following a 21-yard Oliver touchdown reception with 35 seconds left on the clock that made him YSU's all-time leader in touchdown receptions.

Lastovka kicked field goals of 24 and 40 yards in the third quarter to push the score to 30-7, and his career-long 50-yard field goal came at the 14:51 mark of the final quarter to up the margin to 33-7. Redshirt freshman quarterback Beau Brungard ran it into the endzone with 3:10 remaining in the game for a three-yard touchdown rush following a 16-play, 68-yard drive that ran nearly 11 minutes of the clock.